Photographic strip feeding mechanism



July 12, 1932.

R- H. RANGER PHO'I'OGRAPHIC STRIP FEEDING MECHANISM Filed June 14, 19505 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY y 1932- R. H. RANGER PHOTOGRAPHIC STRIPFEEDING MECHANISM Filed June 14, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR RH.RANGER ATTORN EY Patented July 12, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICERICHARD HOWLAND RANGER, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO RADIO COR-PORATION OF AMERICA, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE PHOTOGRAIPHIC STRIPFEEDING MECHANISM Application filed June 14, 1930. Serial No. 461,073.

In the developing and finishing of photographic strips such as picturestrips and film strips, it is necessary that the article being developedor finished be passed through a plurality of different solutions each ofwhich tend to contribute to the complete photographic process. In thepast, it has been necessary to utilize various pulleys, belts, and otherstrip handling mechanisms 10, for the purpose of passing thephotographic strip into and out of the various solutions. In a greatmany mechanisms of this type if a film break for instance, or to threada new film or photographic strip, it is necessary to completely stop themechanism and thread the film through the conveying or feeding mechanismby hand. These mechanisms require then that When a certain piece ofphotographic material has been completely operated upon, a leader orfollower strip be attached to the one just finished and left in thesolutions in order that the threading operation need not be repeated.

Such devices are totally unfitted for the purposes of developing andfinishing short strips such as, for instance, are used in automaticcamera devices wherein a series of photographs of a person is takendirectly upon the medium to be later supplied to the sitter in thefinished form. In these devices it is necessary'that relatively shortpieces of material be passed successively through a considerable numberof solutions, and it is impractical to connect any sort of a leaderstrip with the beginning or end of the actual material constituting thephotograph strip.

It is the object of this invention to provide a strip feeding mechanismparticularly adapted to carry photographic strips through the individualtanks of a developing and finishing plural tank assembly. a

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a strip feedingmechanism which will obviate many of the difficulties outlined above.-

In other words, it is the object of this invention to provide a stripfeeding mechanism wherein relatively short photographic strips may beindependently passed through mechamsm.

A still further and most particular object of this invention is to causethe photographic strip to have a jerky or non-continuous motion throughthe photographic solution, which motion will cause the solution to bejerked and thus obviate the necessity for ad'- ditional agitatingmechanism.

A still more particular object of this invention, in this respect, is toprovide a strip feeding mechanism where the strip moving members arereciprocated and assist in agitating the solution through which thephotographic strip is being passed.

Another object of this invention in this particular is to move thefilm'or other photographic strip in a jerky manner which will eliminatestreaky developing, rinting, and finishing and eliminate alr bub les.

A yet further object of my invention is to provide a strip handlingmechanism which will be non-corrosive under the action of thephotographic solutions employed in developing and finishing photographicstrips. 6

A still further object of my invention is to provide a strip feedingmechanism which has an extremely limited number of metallic parts whichare subject to the corrosive developing and finishing solutions.

These and further objects of this invention will become apparent fromthe following specification taken in connection with the appendedclaims.

In accomplishing the objects of my invention, I provide a strip feedingdevice adapted to independently pass short photographic strips down intoand up out of each of the successive tanks constituting the developingand finishing tank assembly of an automatic photographic machine.

Each of these strip handling mechanisms (iii comprises a frameworkconsisting of two side pieces of hard rubber or other non-corrosivesubstance separated by a plurality of spacers disposed at the edgethereof. Slidably secured to each of the above mentioned side pieces isa pair of feeder bars adapted to be oscillated vertically by means of aneccentr c arranged on a drive shaft. The eccentric, driving each of thepairs of shding feeder bars is arranged at 180? displacement relative tothe other eccentric so that one pa r of bars will be going up while theother pair 1s going down.

In each edge of each feeder bar, towards the opposite feeder bar of theother pair, is a slot of sufficient width to freely accommodate the edgestrip being'handled. The bottom of each slot is arranged from the bottomof the slot of the opposite feeder bar by a distance WlllCl'l isslightly more than the Width of the photographic strip to be handled.

Arranged to extend into the slots 111 each of the feeder bars are aplurality of friction wheels which are adapted to permit the film stripto pass freely in one direction but to frictionally engage such stripand prevent it passing freely in the other direction,

The photographic strip is inserted into the channel thus provided in thetwo opposite feeder bars, and as the feeder bars move in oppositedirections, the friction wheels on one feeder bar will engage the edgeof the photographic strip and cause it to move in the direction of itsmotion, whereas the friction wheels in the other feeder bar will notengage. However, when the former mentioned feeder bar has reached theend of its motion in the downward direction, its friction wheels willcease engaging the picture strip. The other feeder bar, which engagesthe other edge of the photographic strip, will commence its downwardmotion, and the friction devices of this feeder bar will engage thatedge of the photographic strip and cause it to continue its motiondownward.

, At the end of the channel provided by the two opposite feeder bars aredisposed two reverser blocks secured to the side pieces of theframework. The reverser blocks are arranged in such a manner as toengage the opposite edges of the photographic strip, acting as acontinuation of the channel of said feeder bars. The ends of the feederbars act into the start of the reversing channel and the latter servesto cause the photographic strip to perform a hairpin turn and commenceits upper motion under the impulse of the feeder bars which are actingupon the remainder of the photographic strip which is still engaged bythem.

As the film strip emerges from the reverser, in the upward direction, itenters the channel composed of the other opposite feeder bars and issimilarly engaged in this channel by a plurality of friction deviceswhich act in exactly the same manner as those of the feeder bars justdescribed.

The photographic strip is thus caused to come up out of the solution anda similar reversing channel may cause it to pass downward into the nextsolution by feeding it into the channel provided by the feeder bars ofthe next strip handling mechanism.

The entire strip handling mechanism thus described with the exception ofthe eccentric, straps, and shaft are composed of hard rubber or othernon-corrosive substance and are therefore not subject to the corrosiveaction of any of the photographic solutions.

Though not preferred the eccentric, straps,

and shaft or any of them may be composed of similar non-corrosivematerial though a non-corrosive metal is equally satisfactory. Havingthus briefly described my invention, attention is invited to theaccompanying drawings in which;

Fig. 1 represents a cross section of one unit of my strip handlingmechanism;

Fig. 2 represents a side view of the same mechanism;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional View showlng more clearly theeccentric arrangement for actuating the feeder bars;

Fig. 4 is a fragmental cross section of the reverser;

Fig. 5 is a cross section of a fragment of one of the feeder bars,showing a side View of the friction wheel and the friction wheelpressure member;

Fig. 6 is an end cross sectional view of one of the feeder bars showingthe friction wheel mounting, and;

Fig. 7 is a general assembly view showing the relation of two stripfeeding mechanisms disposed in adjacent tanks of the developing andfinishing machine.

Attention is now particularly invited to the various figures of thedrawings in which similar reference figures designate like parts.

The framework consists of two side pieces 10 of hard rubber or othersuitable material separated by similar separating strips 11. Secured toeach side piece 10 of the frame are a plurality of T-shaped members 12which are adapted to form between their top portion and the side piecesa channel in which the feeder bars 13 may slide. The feeder bars arearranged to operate in pairs in the channel, thus formed between the T-shaped members 12 and spacers 11. For purposes of connecting the pairsof feeder bars are provided the cross members 14. Thus it can be seenwith the two feeder bars 13 which are disposed against. each side piece10 are adapted to move in unison. Their motion is caused by means of theshaft 18 which operates two eccentrics 15 and 16. Each eccentric isconnected by means of the xrSCGillZllC strap ranged to continue thechannels 23 in the.

feeder bars 13. In accomplishing this there is provided in the block 20a'wide channel 21 into the upper portion of which the small portion 24of the feeder bar 13A is adapted to oscillate. Similarly the portion 25of the feeder bar BB are adapted to oscillate in the space 27 of theblock 20 and the extension 26 of-the feeder bars 13 B are adapted toabut the curved portion of the passage 21 as 1 shown particularly inFig. 4.

' Thus the edge of the film is passed through the channel 23 of thefeeder bar 13'--A into the channel 21 of the reversing block 20 and isbent in a reverse direction and passes between the portion 26 of thefeeder bar 13B and the portion 25 of said feeder bar, which operates inthe space27- in the block 20. lit is to be noted that the portion 25 offeeder bar 13 is tapered to prevent the film from experiencing anydifficulty in entering the channel 23.

In order to cause the motion of the picture strip, the feeder bars areprovided ,with friction wheels 40 which are shown in detail in Figs.5and 6. These friction wheels have made-integral therewith short hubs 41which are adapted to ride in slots 42 cut into feeder bars 13 and thefeeder bar friction wheel aperture covers 43. Each friction wheel 40 hasa slot 47 cut in its periphery into which a hard rubber friction wheelpressure member 48 is adapted to press. These pressure members may besecured to the feeder bars 13 as illustrated in Fig. 5 or in any otherappropriate manner. The pressure member 48 is adapted to keep a slightpressure on the wheel which will increase "as the friction wheel rises,due to the passagev of the film between it and the feeder bar. -Theslots 42 are cut at an angle leaning away from the feeder bar in thedirection toward which the picture strip is being moved. The angle between the line of travel of the film and the center line of the slot isacute. The direction of film travel is indicated in the arrow of Fig. 2.In other words, the film is moved through the machine in the directionindicated by the arrow as when the feeder bar moves in that direction,the pressure of the friction wheel 40 upon the film 50 tends to increaseand prevent slippage; whereas when the feeder barmoves in the oppositedirection, the-motion of the friction wheel relative to the film strip50 tends to decrease the frictional grip of the friction wheel upon thepicture strip and permits, it to move relative thereto.

In other words, the force of the friction tends to keep the wheel frommoving along with the bar when the feeder bar is moving in the directionopposite that indicated by the arrow, and as a consequence, it is movedup further in the slot and thus up off of the film, decreasing thepressure upon the film until it is negligible. On the other hand,suppose the feeder bar be moved in the direction indicated by the arrow,the friction of the wheel upon the film which tends to remainstationary, tends to keep the wheel from moving with the bar and as aconse quence the wheel moves downward in the slot increasing thefriction until it tightens its hold on the film or picture strip, andthe latter is forced to move along with the bar. Thus the motion of thepicture strip through the strip feeding mechanism is only in'onedirection, it being first pulled downward by the feeder bar which isbeing moved in the downward direction and then by the other feeder barwhen it moves in the downward direction. The motion of each of thesebars has no influence upon the-picture strip to move it in otherdirections.

After the film is passed through the channel 21 of the reverser blocks20 and enters the channel 23 of the feeder bars 13B, theup moving feederbar which grasps its edge, causes it to move upward, whereas thedownward moving feeder bar exerts no influence upon it whatsoever. Thestrip is thus similarly moved up out of the processing solution.

Particular attention is now invited to Fig. 7 which shows an assemblycomprising two tanks 52 and 53 containing various solutions throughwhich the picture strip is to be passed. In tank 52 isarranged a filmhandling mechanism generally indicated at 54,

and in tank 53 a mechanism generally indicated at 55, each of whichmechanisms is similar to that just described. Arranged to co-act withthe upper end of the feeder bars 13]B of the mechanism 54 and the feederbar 13A of the mechanism 55 is a reversing device 56 which is similar tothe reversing device 20 previously described except its function as tochange the direction of the picture strip from'the upper direction tothe downward direction as indicated. The ends of the feeder barsco-acting with this reversing ,mechanism are shaped to co-act' with thereverser 56 in the same way as those co-acting with the reverser 20previously described were shaped.

Having thus described my invention including its operation, it is to beunderstood that I am not to be limited by the specific embodiment shownand described for the purposes of illustration only but by the scope ofmy invention as indicated in the accompanying claims.

I'claim: I H

1. In a developing apparatus for photographic strips, a plurality oftanks, means in each tank for conveying a film in reverse directionswithin the tank, said means comprising oscillatory members forintermittently moving said film and stationary guiding meansintermediate two tanks whereby the film from one tank may .be delivered.to' the feedinglmeans of the second tank.

2. In a developing apparatus for photographic strips, a plurality oftanks, means in each of said tanks for conveying the film -in reversedirections therein and for carrying thefilm out of the tank, said meanscomprising a plurality of oscillatory members adapted to engage only theextreme edges of the film, and stationary guiding means intermediate twotanks for receiving the film from one tank and delivering it to another,

. said guiding means being adapted for only marginal contact with thefilm.

3. In a developing apparatus for photographic strips, means forconveying the film down into and up out of a tank comprising a pluralityof oscillatory members, two of which are adapted to engage the oppositeedges of the film, and are arranged to move in opposite directions atall times, and a reversing member adapted to co-act with the end of thefirst ment oned pair of oscillatory members to reverse the direction ofthe film and with a second pair of oscillatory members, which latterengage the film while moving it up out of said tank.

4. In a developing apparatus for photographic strips, means forconveying the film down into and up out of a tank including a pluralityof oscillatory members, two of which are adapted to engage the oppositeedges of the film, and are arranged to move in opposite directions atall times, and a reversing member,-said reversing member compris- 7 ingmeans for engaging only the marginal portions of said film.

5. In a developing apparatus for photographic strips, means forconveying the film down into and up out of a tank including a pluralityof oscillatory members, each of said oscillatory members including meansfor frictionally engaging the film when moving in one direction only.-

6. Photographic developing apparatus comprising means for passingnon-continuous photographic strips through the various developingsolutions including a pluralityof oscillatory members arranged in pairs,

each pair being adapted to engage the opposite edges of the photographicstrip and one member of each pair being adapted to move in oppositedirections from the other member of each pair, means arranged on saidoscillatory members for frictionally engaging the photographic stripwhile moving in one direction and means for simultaneously movingtheoscillatory members of each pair in opposite directions.

7. In a photographic developing apparatus, means for moving anon-continuous photographic strip through a finishing solution whichincludes means for intermittently moving the film strip and simulta-'neously agitating the photographic solution.

8. In a photographic developing apparatus, means for moving anon-continuous photographic strip through a finishing solution includingmeans for intermittently moving the photographic strip to prevent theformation of bubbles thereon, and simultaneously agitating thephotographic solution.

9. In a developing apparatus for noncontinuous photographic strips, astrip handling mechanism including four oscillatory members, means forconnecting each two of said members and operating them in unison in anoscillatory manner in opposite directions, slots in each of saidoscillatory members arranged to cooperate with the slot of the opposite,oppositely moving oscillatory member to receive the opposite edges ofthe pairs of oscillatory members through the photographic solution.

10. In a developing apparatus for noncontinuous photographic strips, astrip handling mechanism including four oscillatorymembers, means forconnecting two of said members and operating them in unison in anoscillatory manner, means for connecting the other two of the saidmembers and for moving them in an oscillatory manner in the oppositedirection from the motion of said first two members, slots in each ofsaid oscillatory members arranged to cooperate with the slot in the oposite, oppositely moving oscillatory member to receive the oppositeedges of the photographic strip, means adapted to cooperate with saidslots whereby the picture strip is intermittently moved between thepairs of, oscillatory members, and a reversing arrangement arranged tocooperate with the ends of the first pair of oscillatory members toreceive the edges of continuous photographic strips, a strip han- 'dlingmechanism including four oscillatory members, means for connecting twoof said members and operatlng them in unison in an oscillatory manner,means for .connecting the other two of the said members and for movingthem in an oscillatory manner in the opposite direction from the motionof said first two members, slots in each of said oscillatory membersarranged to cooperate with the slot in the opposite, oppositely movingoscillatory member to receive the opposite edges of the photographicstrip, means adapted to cooperate with said slots to engage the edge ofsaid photographic strip while moving in one direction only, whereby thepicture strip is intermittently moved between the pairs of oscillatorymembers down into the photographic solution, a reversing arrangementarranged to cooperate with the ends of the first pair of oscillatorymembers to receive the edges-of the photographic strip being passedtherebetween and reverse the direction of motion of the photographicstrip from the vertical downward direction to the vertical upwarddirection, and similar film engaging means arranged to cooperate withthe slots of said second pair of oscillatory members to continue themotion of the film up out of the developing solution.

12. In a developing apparatus for non-continuous photographic strips, astrip handling mechanism including four oscillatory members, means forconnecting two of said members and operating them in unison in anoscillatory manner, means for connecting the other two of the saidmembers and for moving them in an oscillatory manner in the oppositedirection from the motion of said first two members, slots in each ofsaid oscillatory members arranged to cooperate with the slot in theopposite, oppositely moving oscillatory member to receive the oppositeedges of the photographic strip, means adapted to cooperate with saidslots to engage the edge of said photographic strip while moving in onedirection only, said means comprising a plurality of friction members,friction member pressure means, cam surfaces so disposed that a tendencyof said friction member to move relative to said oscillatory strip inone direction will cause it to frictionally engage the picture strip,whereas the tendency of said pressure member to move relative to theoscillatory member in the opposite direction will cause the pressureupon said photographic strip to be released, whereby the picture stripis intermittently moved between the pairs of oscillatory members downinto the photographic solution, a reversing arrangement arranged tocooperate with the ends of the first pair of oscillatory members toreceive the edges of the photographic strip being passed therebetweenand reverse the direction of motion of the photographic strip from thevertical downward direction to the vertical upward direction, means tocooperate with the secondpair of oscillatory members to feed the end ofsaid photographic strip into the slots arranged in said members, andsimilar film engaging means arranged to cooperate with the slots of saidsecond pair of oscillatory members to continue the motion of the fihn upout of the developing solution.

13. In a developing apparatus for non-continuous photographic strips,means for independently passing photographic strips through a pluralityof tanks adapted to develop and finish said photographic strip,comprising in each of said tanks to strip handling mechanism includingfour oscillatory members, means for connecting two of said members andoperating them in unison in an oscillatory vmanner, means for connectingthe other two of the said members and for moving them in an oscillatorymanner in the opposite directionfrom the motion of said first twomembers, slots in each of said oscillatory members arranged to cooperatewith the slot in the opposite, oppositely moving oscillatory member toreceive the opposite edges of the photographic strip, means adapted tocooperate with said slots to engage the edge of said photographic stripwhile moving in one direction only, said means comprising a plurality offriction members, friction member pressure means,

cam surfaces so disposed that a tendency of said friction member to moverelative to said oscillatory strip in one direction will cause it tofrictionally engage the picture strip, whereas the tendency of saidpressure member to move relative to the oscillatory member in theopposite direction will cause the pres sure upon said photographic stripto be released, whereby the picture strip is intermittently movedbetween the pairs of oscillatory members down into the photographicsolution, a reversing arrangement arranged to cooperate with the ends ofthe first pair of oscillatory members to receive the edges of thephotographic strip being passed therebetween and reverse the directionof motion of the photographic strip from the vertical downward directionto the vertical upward direction, means to cooperate with the secondpair of oscillatory members to feed the end of said photographic stripinto the slots arranged in said members, similar film engaging meansarranged to cooperate with the- 5 slots of said second pair ofoscillatory members to continue the motion of the film up out of thedeveloping solution, a reversing mechanism adapted to cooperate with theupper end of said second pair of oscillatory members and engage theedges of the film emerging from the first tank and direct it between thefirst pair of oscillatory members of a second strip handling mechanismdis posed in the second tank.

14. A photographic strip feeding device v including a pair of membersarranged to grip the film only when said feed member is moved in onedirection.

15. A photographic strip feeding device including a pair of membersarranged to oscillate simultaneously in opposite directions, and eachprovided with a feed member and a resiliently supported friction memberoperable to grip the film only whensaid feed member is moved in onedirection.

16. A photographic strip feeding device includin a pair of membersarranged to oscillate in opposite directions and each provided with afeed member and a resiliently supported roller operable to grip the filmonly when said feed member is moved in one direction.

17. A photographic strip feeding device including a pair of membersarranged to oscillate in opposite directions, and each provided with afeed member and a slotted roller arranged to be forced into contact withsaid feed member only when it is moved in one direction.

RICHARD HUVVLAND RANGER.

